Okay, so no one "could really call DeLay’s hip shakes, air guitar, or UPS-man-gone-Las Vegas brown costume all that seductive," said Lisa Lerer in Politico, but the former House majority leader—known as "the Hammer" for his ability to keep House Republicans in line—danced a cha-cha that "was—I’m shocked to admit—almost graceful."

Almost, said Alyssa Lee in the Los Angeles Times. Tom DeLay isn't in last place, which means he "(gasp) did not suck!" That's a big accomplishment for his professional dance partner, Cheryl Burke, who whipped him into shape. His cha-cha—to "Wild Thing"—was "perfectly functional," as was "his swinging bottom." Although the studio audience got to watch DeLay's "rampant rump shaking at a safe distance"—those at home were "smacked with the searing image in extreme close-up."